Fluid coupling with unitary die cast vane structure



June 14, 1949.

A WEISS DIE CAST VANE STRUCTURE Filed Jan. 19, 1946 INVENTOR ERwm WEISS a A'ITORNEY E. 2,473,185 FLUID COUPLING WITH UNITARY Patented June 14, 1949 FLUID COUPLING WITH UNITARY DIE CAST VANE STRUCTURE Erwin A. Weiss, Detroit Mich., assignor to Packand Motor Car Company, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application January 19, 1946, Serial No. 642,375 6 Claims. (Cl. 103-115) This invention relates to fluid couplings and particularly to the construction of the operating 7 parts thereof.

One of the drawbacks to the greater use of fluid couplings has been the difliculties experienced in connection with the manufacture and assembly of the parts thereof. In general, the vaned members of couplings have been so formed that they must be sand cast or built up of a multiude of stamped parts, all of which means high labor cost in cleaning and polishing the surfaces or in assembling andwelding together the numerous parts, or both.

It is one of the'objectsof the present invention to so design one of the operating units of a fluid coupling that the vane member thereof may be die cast with smooth surfaces and the supporting, member of the unit day form a guide wall that would otherwise be a part of the vanes, to thereby permit the vane member to be die cast.

It is a further object of the invention to so design a fluid coupling that one of the vane members thereof will have its vanes connected by a single torus, preferably positioned intermediate the ends of the vanes, and all other edges of the vanes will be free, so that the vane member may be die cast, the vanes being tapered in thickness to permit the dies to be withdrawn.

Another object of the invention is the production of a fluid coupling member from two parts connected together at the inner and outer ends of the vanes.

Another object of the invention is the formation of a fluid coupling member in which the segmental vanes are connected by a torus and the opposite wall for the vanes is separately formed whereby the vanes and torus may be die cast as a unit.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the drawing, which forms a part of this specification, and in which:

Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a fluid coupling impeller with the two separated parts thereof bein shown in section; v

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of an impeller member showing the two parts thereof'assembled;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary face view of an impeller member showing the vanes and peen ing points;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary face view of the assembly prior to securing one part to the other;

Fig. 5 is a, similar view to Fig. 4 after one part has been secured to the other; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-section taken on the line i! of Fig. 1, showing the draft angle of the vanes.

The invention is shown embodied in the impeller portion of a fluid coupling, in which the impeller is formed of two parts which are permanently connected together. The supporting part of the impeller may be made by sand casting and may form the flywheel of an internal Referring to the drawings, the rotatable supporting member is represented at I0 and the vane with a doughnut-shaped depression l8. In cross section this depression is shown as substantially segmental and almost semi-circular.

is formed with a series of spaced radially extending slots l2, and adjacent the periphery or outer rim M of the depression is a series of radially extending slots i2, preferably corresponding to or aligned with the slots l2.

The member I I, that is, the vane member, comprises a series of radially arranged arcuate shaped vanes or blades l5. These vanes are spaced circumferentially and means l1 which is shown in the form 01' a segmental torus of' concavo-convex form in cross of which the vanes ll bridging means I! is assembled condition. Thus the vane member H Adjacent the inner rim I 6 of the depression the member I0 to form part of It is possible to form the vane member II with but a single bridging means, such as the means l1 shown in Figs. 1 and 2, thus leaving all or the outer edges of the vanes free. because the vane memberis adapted to be fitted into the supporting member 10 which will form the other guide wall the impeller. Thus the vane member H has inward extensions or tabs 13 formed on some or all of the vanes or blades 15, and there are also outward extensions or'tabs i3 for some or all of the vanes. The tabs l3 extend radially inward and are so positioned that they will enter the slots I! in the member 10 and the tabs I! extend radially outward and are so positioned that the! will register with and enter the slots 12 ,in the member 10. It will be seen that the connection of the vane member il so that it will turn with the supporting member i0 is at the extreme ends of the vanes l thus providing the strongest support for the vanes.

The outer free edges of portion l5 of the vanes l5 are curved to fit the are shaped guide wall of the depression iii in the member l0 and when the member II has been positioned within the member ID as shown in Fig. 2, a permanent connection of the two parts is made by peening over or otherwise deforming a portion of the metal between the slots i2 and I2, as shown at 20 in the various figures. This forms a rigid and permanent connection between the two parts so that there can be no relative shifting in the rapid rotation of the impeller.

It will be understood that various forms of the invention other than that described above may be used without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A fluid coupling vane member suitable for die-casting comprising a plurality of radially extending vanes, bridging means forming the sole integral support of said vanes, said means connecting the vanes at an intermediate point'so that the vanes project from two sides of the bridging means, and said vanes tapering parallel with the axis of rotation of the vane member in both directions from said bridging member to their free edges.

2. A one-piece die cast vane member adapted a fiuid coupling comprising a plurality of vanes held in radial, circumierentially spaced relation by means of bridging portions between adjacent vanes, said bridging portions being of concave-convex form and disposed in circumferential alignment, the respective vanes extending axially on both sides of said bridging portions and being tapered on the concave side of said bridging portions.

3. A one-piece die cast vane member adapted to form part of a fluid coupling comprising a plurality of vanes held in radial, circumfercntially spaced relation by means of bridging portions between adjacent vanes, said bridging portions being of concavo-convex form and disposed in circumferential alignment, the respective vanes being tapered on both the convex and concave sides of said bridging portions.

4. The improvement in fluid couplings comprising an annular member having a split doughnutshaped depression therein and having radial slots adjacent the periphery of the depression, and a member having vanes received in the depression and having tabs extending into the slots, the

edges of the slots being slots partially over the vanes to the annular member.

5. The improvement in fluid couplings comprising a rotatable member having a split doughnutshaped depression therein and having radial slots adjacent the periphery of the depression, and a member having vanes fitting the depression and having tabs extending into the slots, the edges oi the slots extending over the tabs to lock the tabs in the slots.

6. The improvement in fluid couplings comprising a rotatable member having a split doughnutshaped depression therein and having radial slots both adjacent the periphery of the depression and adjacent the inner rim of the depression, and a member having vanes fitting the depression and having tabs extending into both the peripheral and the inner rim slots, the edges of said peripheral and inner slots extending over the tabs to lock the tabs in the slots.

ERWIN A. WEISS.

deformed to close the REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,868,146 Kiep July 19, 1932 2,154,882 Yoxall Apr. 18, 1939 2,357,295 Thompson Sept. 5, 1944 tabs, thereby locking the 

